Module 3: Quantum Physics and the End of Systems of Oppression
Welcome to Module Three: Quantum Physics and the End of Systems of Oppression
This page represents module three of my free course, “Understanding the Essential Nature of Systems of Oppression.” If you’ve landed on this page without having checked out the course introduction or module one, you may want to go back and check those out first.
The videos in this module will take about an hour and ten minutes to view in total. If you haven’t taken module one or module two yet, I would recommend going back and viewing those first.
This might be the most unexpected topic in a course on systems of oppression. Please feel free to reach out to me with any questions about this content at james.boutin@mailfence.com
Introduction
What this module is about and why I’m excited to share it
The role of quantum physics in updating the deep operating system
Why I want to hear quantum physics discussed more often in social justice spaces
What’s a Core Belief?
What do I mean by “core belief?”
My Main Thesis for Module Three
I present my main thesis for module three as concretely as I can
You can find a written version of it below
Module Three’s Main Thesis
If you’re new to the study of quantum physics, the content in this module may feel overwhelming at times.
To help with that challenge, I want to state my main thesis for this module clearly here.
If you ever get lost with what we’re talking about and why, you can always return here to ask how it might connect to the main thesis.
Main Thesis (Short Version)
The cultural worldview out of which systems of oppression arise is based on fundamental assumptions about reality that have been developed in association with classical physics. Quantum physics suggests the possibility of a whole new set of beliefs we might adopt about our reality. If we did, it could create an entirely different society in which systems of oppression either do not exist or are substantially less harmful.
Main Thesis (Long Version)
The deep operating system outlined in module two is built on basic assumptions about the nature of reality - core beliefs that I refer to as a “worldview” or “cosmology” throughout module three.
Many of these basic assumptions have been developed in association with a branch of physics commonly referred to as “classical physics” or “Newtonian physics.”
Classical physics, which many of us studied in school, investigates how objects large enough for us to perceive behave in space and time.
Quantum physics investigates how objects that are too small for us to perceive with the naked eye behave in space and time - objects like atoms, protons, and electrons.
The study of classical physics has been connected to a worldview that is often referred to as “materialism,” “material realism,” or “physicalism.” This worldview is embedded in mainstream culture, and, in my view, makes up a substantial part of the deep operating system.
While there are many assumptions about reality that make up materialism, the ones that I really want to highlight in regard to the question of how we transcend systems of oppression are as follows:
Objects that exist in different areas of space or periods of time do not affect one another.
Objects are separate, and they do not influence each other unless they interact in close proximity of space and time.
The assumption that our perception of space and time serve as evidence of a lack of connection between objects is a fundamental belief undergirding systems of oppression.
In this perception of reality, systems of oppression might make logical (if not moral) sense. If we’re all separate, maybe hierarchy and subjugation are reasonable survival strategies.
The study of quantum physics, however, has been strongly suggesting for over a hundred years that these assumptions may not be entirely accurate.
Now that we have the technology to study the behavior of elementary particles, scientists have discovered that they behave very differently than objects in our universe that are large enough for us to perceive with the naked eye.
The behavior of elementary particles suggests that there are alternative assumptions about our reality that might be useful to consider. Assumptions like,
everything is intricately connected across time and space
it may be that there is no such thing as separation - merely the perception of it
What if these were the operating beliefs of the humans who built the social, economic, legal, and political systems of our society? Systems of oppression would continue to not make moral sense. But more importantly, they would no longer make any sort of logical sense - even if you took self-interest to be the only legitimate driver of your behavior. Creating or participating in them would be understood as deeply unintelligent. Anyone who did would be understood as needing support to learn, grow, and heal.
Classical Physics and Materialism
The connections between classical physics, materialism, and the deep operating system
“The quantum revolution has revealed that the classical worldview was a reflection of a particular psychological perspective, something that existed entirely within the minds of a certain strain of European humanity. It was then projected outwards on the world and became reified and rigorously mathematically formalized into an orthodox creed and subsequently held the mind of modern humanity in a prison of its own making.”
~ Paul Levy in The Quantum Revelation
Quantum Physics
Let’s talk about…
quantum entanglement
nonlocality
the observer effect
quantum collapse
the holographic universe theory
"The Universe does not exist ‘out there’ independent of us. We are inescapably involved in bringing about that which appears to be happening. We are not only observers. We are participators. In some strange sense this is a participatory Universe.”
~ Physicist John Wheeler
“I am optimistic that over the next few decades there will be a great change in our world view both from the material and the spiritual perspectives."
~ The Fourteenth Dalai Lama
Comparing Classical and Quantum Views
How we relate to things depending on whether we’re taking a more classical or more quantum perspective
Link to Lewis Deep Democracy, which inspired this chart
Materialism and Trauma
Why a materialist worldview reminds me of a trauma response
Why a quantum perspective reminds me of integration
Practical Applications
What does all this mean in terms of how we actually work to transcend systems of oppression?
Thank you so much for the time and energy you’ve put into taking this course!
More Resources
Below you’ll find a list of books I’ve relied on as I developed this content:
Brown, A. M. (2017). Emergent Strategy: Shaping Change, Changing Worlds. AK Press.
Greene, B. (2020). Until the End of Time: Mind, Matter, and Our Search for Meaning in an Evolving Universe. Vintage Books.
Hübl, T. (2020). Healing Collective Trauma: A Process for Integrating Our Intergenerational and Cultural Wounds. Sounds True.
Johnson, S. (2001). Emergence: The Connected Lives of Ants, Brains, Cities, and Software. Scribner.
Laszlo, E. (2004). Science and the Akashic Field: An Integral Theory of Everything. Inner Traditions.
Laszlo, E. (2008). Quantum Shift in the Global Brain: How the New Scientific Reality Can Change Us and Our World. Inner Traditions.
Levy, P. (2018). The Quantum Revelation: A Radical Synthesis of Science and Spirituality. SelectBooks.
Mindell, A. (2000). Quantum Mind: The Edge Between Physics and Psychology. Lao Tse Press.
Nieto, L. (2010). Beyond Inclusion; Beyond Empowerment: A Developmental Strategy to Liberate Everyone. Cuetzpalin Publishing.
O’Murchu, D. (2004). Quantum Theology: Spiritual Implications of the New Physics. The Crossroad Publishing Company.
Talbot, M. (1991). The Holographic Universe. HarperPerennial.
Theise, Neil. (2023). Notes on Complexity: A Scientific Theory of Connection, Consciousness, and Being. Spiegel & Grau.
© 2024 james boutin
